idealis

Forms

ideālis (neuter ideāle, adverb ideāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin idea (“idea, form”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] The noun goes back to Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéā, “form, idea”),^[1] and Etymonline takes the adjective from it in the Platonic sense.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Martianus Capella is its first author: he speaks of the ideal and intellectual form of the monad and its causative power, and fits the triad to ideal forms.^[2][5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Martianus it means both having the nature of an idea and relating to an idea.^[2][7] Medieval philosophy and theology used it in the same senses, of what has the nature of an idea or form or conforms to it:^[8][9] Albertus Magnus speaks of an ideal number produced by the intelligence before nature, and says that Plato held the universal to be the first ideal cause.^[8] For Thomas Aquinas it is a synonym of exemplāris, “serving as a pattern”.^[10] In British sources Duns Scotus has the ideal reason of a thing and Wyclif the many ideal reasons in the divine mind.^[9] It could also mean perfect, ideal, as in a letter praising a master,^[8] and in a register of 1488, existing as an idea in the mind, of a plan carried into act.^[9] Polish philosophical texts of the 15th and 16th centuries use it of Plato's ideal forms.^[11]

English ideal is recorded from the early 15th century, first “of an archetype”; the senses “perfect” and “existing only in idea” are from the 1610s.^[4]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it of the ideal form of the monad.^[2][6]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus speaks of an ideal number.^[8][6]
• third quarter of the 13th century – Thomas Aquinas uses it in the sense “exemplary”.^[10][6]
• early 15th century – English ideal is recorded.^[4]
• 1488 – A register uses it of a plan existing in the mind.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Having the nature of an idea or form; relating to an idea.^[2][5][7]
2. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Conforming to an idea or form; exemplary.^[8][9][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Perfect, ideal.^[8][11]
4. (Medieval Latin) Existing as an idea in the mind.^[9]

Related words

• English ideal

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
11. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl